A Comprehensive Guide for Mobile App Development

The modern time demands interactive apps to connect your business with your users. Thus, there is a rise in apps and the need for a mobile app development company that can help you in designing custom apps for your business. Moreover, they take care of all your app development processes with their end-to-end mobile application development services with the right technology and trends.

The Emergence of Mobile Apps

Hadn’t it been for the groundbreaking invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, it is difficult to fathom where the world’s telecommunications industry would be in modern times?

But the individual journey of the telephone has certainly come a long way. And now, Smartphones are ruling the world. So, what makes smartphones more functional, user-friendly, and the one-go-to-object in the whole world? Certainly, it’s the apps, the inner technology, and the mechanisms of the smart device.

Hence, many mobile app development firms are investing in research and resources to make smartphones better and an all-rounder object.

Today, we have mobile apps for banking and payments, trading, on-demand cab services, ordering deliveries of groceries and medicines at your doorstep, entertainment, dating, and whatnot!

Hence, it is obvious that enterprise mobile app development is an ever-evolving process. Wherein, Google Play Store and Apple App Store have emerged as two famous mobile app destinations for Android and iOS devices. Remarkably, mobile app usage is expected to generate revenue of over $613,433 billion by 2025.

In this guide, we will be talking about the mobile app development process at great lengths and provide a detailed view of its steps. Learn in detail about the importance of mobile app development. Besides, get an interesting insight into the eight distinct phases of mobile app development. And why mobile apps have failed to make an impression in the market many times. In this guide, we have also covered for you the various mobile app development outsourcing companies, native approaches to designing and developing mobile apps, and which ones you should go with.

Evolution of Mobile App Development Over the Years

It would be appropriate to say that innovation drives the mobile industry. And mobile app development is always in a state of transformation due to the custom mobile application development services. Significantly, the evolution of phones from the traditional table phone sets to pagers and then the very first cell phone models only paved the way for today’s smartphones. Herein, modern phones are run by smart technology.

The very first apps were the usual calculators, clocks, calendars, phonebooks, and even the basic gaming apps of the earlier mobile handsets.

The history of mobile app development can be traced back to

• Motorola 1973 made the first-ever mobile phone.
• The next smartphone was developed by IBM Simon in 1992. This had apps like calendars, clocks, and world clocks incorporated into it.
• The portable devices made their first operating system in the early ’90s which was known as EPOC. Developed by Psion, the 16-bit system was capable of running apps like diaries, spreadsheets, and word processors.
• Palm OSes was developed and launched by Palm Inc. in 1996. It is credited for making digital assistants known as the Garnet OS. And had a touchscreen GUI (Graphical User Interface) with several basic apps and third-party apps. While the coding language used was majorly C/C++.
• Next came the wireless markup language built by the WAP Forum. Consequently, this language came into existence for supporting devices relying completely on XML. Followed by this, came Java ME or JME which was again replaced by personalized Java.
• Blackberry launched its flagship smartphone in 2002.
• Next, Symbian Ltd., which was a collaborative initiative among PSION, Nokia, Ericsson, and Motorola developed Symbian which could be described as the upgraded version of PSION EPOC OS.
• Nokia further made improvements to the Symbian OS.
• Finally, the Android and iOS operating systems came into existence for deciding the destiny of present-day smartphones and the large multitude of Android and iOS apps.
• Android Inc. was launched in October 2003 in California by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White. Later was acquired by Google in 2005. 2008 onwards, Android underwent multiple updates.
• The iOS mobile operating system was unveiled in 2007. Developed by Apple Inc. for the first generation of the iPhone, the iOS technology has continued ruling Apple’s collection of smart devices over all these years.
• Today, all types of businesses are resorting to any top mobile app development company to get their app project successfully entered the app race.

Interesting Facts about the Mobile App Market

• About 218 billion mobile apps were downloaded worldwide in 2020.
• In 2019, the revenue generated by mobile apps worldwide was 462 billion USD.
• The number of apps available in the Google Play Store is equal to 3.15 million. While the Apple App Store has 2.09 million apps. Whereas, the number of apps available in the Windows Store is 669,000.
• The App Store dominates the world market by claiming a 64% share in terms of consumer expenditures on app stores.
• The most popular category of app downloads is gaming according to iPhone users.
• By 2023, it has been projected by Statista that the mobile apps market would generate a revenue of 935 billion USD through app purchases and in-app adverts.
• The free and paid apps downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store are shown in the below chart. Experts estimate that approximately 98% of the revenue comes from free apps compared to paid apps.
• Enterprise mobile app development became a thing with companies providing mobile app development services to businesses and startups to overpower the emerging app market.

Importance of Mobile App Developments

If you are wondering what is the need for mobile app development, then here are a few essential pointers for you:

Facilitates Incorporation of New Technological Development

Android & iOS are innovative platforms that bring up newer advancements now and then. However, their ability to incorporate more functionality, features, and newer technologies is possible only with constant mobile app developments. A custom mobile app development company can help you stay abreast with all the features and updates of these platforms incorporating the latest technology and innovation in your apps.

Nowadays, the world is constantly trying to solve most problems through mobile apps. One fresh example would be the Covid-19 vaccination drives for which most countries are relying on application-based registration systems and more. In the US, healthcare providers can check immunization schedules through the CDC Vaccine Schedules app. Similarly, Impfterminradar is an app that pulls data on the availability of different vaccines in the vaccination centers all over Germany. While India uses the CoWIN app or Arogya Setu app for vaccine registration.

Reduced Costs of Operation

Businesses are switching to making mobile apps to reduce their on-premise costs. Here, the best mobile app development company India can help them to create cost-efficient apps to streamline & consolidate their operations with less investment. Also, Startups can launch their businesses quickly as they can avoid making brick and mortar establishments.

Increased Accessibility

Businesses want to enhance the accessibility of their products and services and increase customer engagement. You can easily make your mobile apps more accessible to your users with an experienced mobile app development agency to increase the user reach. And help businesses send in-app notifications to customers and gain their attention easily. Customers can be updated about their latest sales and promotions via mobile applications. Thereby helping them generate sales & revenue.

Improves Brand Visibility

Mobile apps are helping to build brand awareness and recognition. As you come across a new app and install it on your smartphone, you are more likely to recognize it and associate with it. Thus, an interesting mobile app developed by a reliable mobile app development company has the potential to help smaller and newer businesses make a mark for themselves among their competitors in the market.

Transformed Retail Experience

The birth of eCommerce and mobile shopping has extensively transformed the retail experience altogether. And help customers save their time and effort to get products and services.

Thus, it has made a significant impact on the livelihoods of people, generating more jobs. Also, the presence of a well-developed eCommerce industry and mobile apps have proven to be a boon in times of the Covid-19 pandemic all over the world. A custom mobile app development company can leverage this increasing trend to build your business on exceptional, customer-centric eCommerce apps.

Gain Customer Loyalty

Businesses can win customer loyalty through mobile apps. As customers can bond with businesses better and form a trustworthy relationship with them if a mobile application is easily available for business. It is also easier for consumers to return to the same brand if they have its app installed on their smartphone for easy accessibility.

Add Value to their Customers

Customers relate more with the apps that are value-based along with catering to their needs. Here, a well-seasoned app development company can help you power your apps aligned with your business goal reflecting value and trust. Ultimately, you can also add value to their customers via mobile apps by offering them rewards, coupons, lucky draws, etc. Also, this will motivate customers and encourage downloads via word-of-mouth influence.

Generate Revenue

Across North America, about 44% of online transactions are made through mobile apps. Since mobile apps are accessible to customers, they are capable of increasing the opportunities of earning greater revenues. Thereby increasing the popularity of the business, and finally, inviting the scope for expansion.

Why Do Mobile Apps Fail to Make Their Mark in the Market?

It is important to know that though a lot of apps are being designed frequently, many of them fail to make an impact or generate revenue from the market. Recent data shows that there are almost 100,000 new Android apps released in the Google Play Store monthly. While 30,000 apps are published in the Apple App Store every month. Your app may likely get lost among the heap of apps, failing miserably if you do not have trusted mobile app development services to back your business app venture.

So, let’s dig at what are the most obvious challenges that businesses face that lead to the failure of their apps in the market.

Lack of Market Research and Understanding of Target Audience

It is essential to find out more about your target audience’s choices and preferences before deciding to develop an app. Because this plays the first crucial step in the mobile app development process and can influence the success or the failure of the app after its launch.

It is important to understand the needs of the customers before jumping to conclusions about whether the customers would at all enjoy using your product or not. Further, your mobile application development agency can play an essential role in identifying the user behavior pattern and designing the marketing campaign to promote your application.

At the discovery stage of the project, app developers must be involved in extensive research related to the central demographics, app usage, and user behavior patterns, and discover the goals for creating user personas.

Experts believe that a minimum viable product development method from custom mobile application development services is the best approach to quickly enter the market. It is extremely helpful in making logical decisions about achieving business goals successfully.

Duplication of Other App Features in the Same Category

At the present, applications of every sort have crowded the market. It is to be noted that offering the same features, functions, and user interface won’t help you gain a competitive edge over other apps in the market.

Design thinking inspires innovation and forms the basis of creating unique mobile applications with original offerings. For this, product and design teams from the best mobile app development company can conduct excessive research with a user-centric approach to eliminate duplicating features.

Hence, experts suggest that making a unique value proposition (UVP) is the prime need in today’s market. It is pertinent to know that initially having a vision statement, then creating a mobile app prototyping, and further testing the mobile app with the prototype is a must for creating a UVP.

Choosing the Wrong Platform for App Release

It is vital to become aware of which platform you want your app to be developed as each has its significance. And a good mobile application development company can assist you in realizing the significance to choose the right platform. For instance, the iOS market is dominated by wealthy customers. Hence, if your monetization strategy depends on in-app purchases, then releasing the app on the App Store is the better approach. On the other hand, if you want to earn from ads, then Android is a better platform. Moreover, you can even get hybrid apps that can run on both platforms.

Lack of Proper Testing and Bug Fixing Before Release

If an app is released without thorough testing and bug fixing, then it will fail to create the first best impression in the market. Because they are necessary for a seamless, high-quality, and memorable user experience. Your availed mobile app development services cover all the QA testings and bug fixing guaranteeing the ultimate user experience for your users. An app’s quality and performance play a crucial role in determining its success or failure.

Not Paying Close Attention to Optimise User Experience

A well-designed and well-implemented application with the optimized user experience of structured mobile application development services has the following characteristic attributes:

• Smooth app performance without lags and crashes
• Fast loading time
• Quick and simple app registration process
• User-friendly UI
• Easy-to-use features

If the aforementioned attributes aren’t taken into account by the dedicated developers, then the app will fail in the market due to poor usability. Working on designing an excellent UX requires commendable design thinking and a strategic understanding of the app’s business model is only possible by a professional enterprise mobile application development company.

Taking care of these critical aspects of mobile apps may save your product from failing and ensure an impactful presence in the market for your business.

Key Approaches to Mobile App Development

Many times, mobile app development company or development team is confused about the app development approach they should be taking. Though it largely differs from project to project, it is useful to decide the approach first to fix the development time and budget for developing the app. In this segment of the article, let us dive deep into the various approaches that can be taken to develop mobile apps.

Native App Development

Generally, most companies will suggest using this mobile app development approach. As native app development is characterized by platform-specific coding languages. So apps for different platforms will have to be developed separately. This is the most common approach taken by the mobile application development company.

Why should you choose the native app development approach?

The primary reason for using this mobile app development approach is because of the several benefits offered by it. Notably, Native mobile apps are platform-specific. Hence, they are custom designed as per the platform which imparts higher performance to it along with increased responsiveness.

Moreover, using this approach ensures that the mobile apps are enabled with features that would be well supported by the platform and the associated devices. Ultimately, it helps to maximize the user experience. Here, your enterprise mobile app development company can make you business-oriented apps using React Native to give your business a futuristic edge.

Features:

• Requires different software development kits and technology stacks.
• These mobile apps must be developed in OS-specific development environments.
• Utilizes platform-specific coding languages.
• These apps can better leverage the built-in features of the smartphone.
• They are better in terms of providing security and support.

Pros:

• OS-friendly features make it convenient for users.
• Native apps understand user behavior, usage patterns, online habits, and preferences.
• These apps have higher performance.
• They are easy to update.

Cons:

• The native mobile app development approach can be expensive.
• Usage constraints placed due to the OS-specific design.
• Supporting apps on different devices is cumbersome.

Cross-platform App Development

Nowadays, cross-platform mobile app development is a popular approach used by any custom mobile application development company. As the name implies, these apps can be released and operated across Android and iOS platforms simultaneously.

Thus, these apps witness higher usage due to downloads happening from both platforms. Hire app developers proficient in working with different kinds of coding languages and tools from the native toolkits of Google & Apple for designing cross-platform apps.

Why should you choose the cross-platform development approach?

Well, the convenience of using this approach lies in the ability to launch one app on multiple platforms. Thus, it addresses the problem of having to develop the same app twice for two different platforms. Hence, this approach can be cost-efficient for those businesses that want to target both Android and iPhone users. Maintaining the apps is also easy as it comes integrated with mobile application development services.

Features:

• These apps enjoy wide community support.
• Developers have to utilize cross-platform frameworks and tools based on .NET, C#, or JS.
• Requires simple implementation techniques.
• Source code is reusable.

Pros:

• These apps can be published on all platforms at once uniformly.
• They can be promoted quickly in the market.
• Offers the benefit of higher demographic coverage.
• Cost-effective and time-saving approach.

Cons:

• These apps lag in being updated frequently.
• They are susceptible to increased risks of unclear upgrade paths and code rewrites.

Hybrid App Development

If you have partnered with the best mobile app development company, then they may suggest Hybrid mobile app development for your apps. It is a kind of cross-platform mobile app development approach. It involves the creation of a single app that can run on multiple OS. But they are better in terms of user experience in comparison to apps developed with the cross-platform approach.

In this app development method, developers employ web technologies like JS, CSS, and HTML5 to write the code first. Then, the code is executed within a native app via some open-source framework like React Native, etc.

Why should you choose the hybrid app development approach?

This approach is beneficial when the mobile application development agency wants to create apps that can perform on multiple platforms with a mind-blowing user experience. It functions without compromising on the user experience and performance of the apps just like the native mobile apps.

Features:

• These apps are designed using one code base that can be deployed on various platforms.
• Hybrid mobile apps have access to native platform libraries.
• These apps are scalable on all platforms.
• The hybrid apps can work offline due to the native infrastructure.

Pros:

• Brings down the cost of app development.
• Shorter turnaround time for app development and marketing.
• Higher performance and a better user experience similar to native apps.

Cons:

• Limited options for app customizations.
• Higher possibility of bugs and technical glitches.

Progressive Web Apps

PWA’s are not exactly mobile apps but they appear similar to native apps and even function like them. Thus, the progressive web apps can operate without a browser as well. And it is possible to install them on the home screen of the smartphone directly.

Why should you choose the PWAs development approach?

Progressive web apps offer the advantage of functioning across various platforms without requiring a dedicated browser. As part of the mobile application development services, these apps are designed in such a manner that they can adapt to the platform automatically, respond accordingly, and connect to it independently.

Features:

• Use of HTML plays a pivotal role here.
• These are web apps that are designed with an adaptable UI.
• PWAs can be hosted without an app store and don’t need to be downloaded.
• They do not even require a dedicated browser.

Pros:

• Launching and maintaining the app is easy.
• Depends on a single codebase.
• Operates in offline and online modes.

Cons:

• Implementing the app is challenging.

Rapid Mobile App Development

Rapid mobile app development is the last and final approach of mobile application development that is used by a mobile app development company in modern times. Remarkably, it is an advanced version of the cross-platform mobile app development approach requiring a shorter time frame.

At the front-end, developers declare the features and functions which are transformed into the coded form at the back-end.

Why should you choose the rapid mobile app development approach?

You should be employing this mobile app development approach when you are entrusted with the job of designing simple apps for businesses. Because these apps can be developed without the need for extensive coding and developers don’t need to employ many development tools.

A reliable app development company can help you leverage this approach that requires lesser investment compared to the generated ROI, hence maximizing the profits.

Features:

• The front-end largely relies on metadata.
• This approach requires less panning.
• It utilizes initial prototyping, recyclable software components, and an adaptive process of app development.
• Capable of fitting multiple project types for development.

Pros:

• Eliminates the need for database coding.
• New developers can be employed in this approach.
• The codebase is recyclable.
• Less complex development process.

Cons:

• Not suitable for high-end OS-specific apps.

Step-by-step Process of Mobile App Development

While you are planning to get your apps designed, mobile app development outsourcing to an offshore company in India has proved to be a beneficial decision. With their experience, a team of well-seasoned developers, and knowledge of the latest technology and trends, they help you with 360-degree app development as part of their mobile app development services.

In the above segments of this article, we have discussed the importance of mobile app development and why they fail in the market. Along with all the various approaches taken by developers to build mobile apps.

Now, we will go through the eight different stages of mobile app development followed by any top mobile app development company for an effective final product. Here, you will discover what happens in the strategic phase and the technological phase. Followed by this, you would be walked through the team-building phase, app designing phase, the development, testing, and deployment phase. Ultimately, the post-deployment phase will be elaborately discussed.

I. Strategic Phase

This is the first and foremost phase of mobile app development. And this stage is all about identifying the key areas of business. An enterprise app development company organizes brainstorming sessions to come up with an excellent app idea, do a SWOT analysis, conduct extensive market research, understand more about your target audience, and lastly decide upon your monetization model.

Value Proposition

Let’s take a look at the initial step that plays an important role in mobile app development, which is known as the value proposition. It refers to a simple summarised statement that represents the customer’s point of agreeing to buy a particular product or service.

A good value proposition is needed because it helps you highlight where you are standing better compared to your competitors. The app development company realizes this and helps you plan a customer-centric value-based proposition framed around brand strategy. Here are the five factors that should be considered when framing a value proposition for a mobile app:

Customer Loyalty

Mobile applications of various brands play a pivotal role in earning customer loyalty for businesses. Due to the easy accessibility of the application at the fingertips of the customer. Hence, while designing apps this point must be kept in mind.

Brand Value

A mobile app’s rating is directly proportional to the company’s brand image. Hence, it is pertinent to take care of the quality & maintenance of the app throughout its life cycle after creating it.

Consumer Insights

A mobile app development firm can help you obtain valuable customer insights via user behavior data while navigating the app. Hence, it can serve as a way to ameliorate customer experience.

Role in Promoting Other Brand Channels

A mobile app can also serve as the medium for promoting other advertising channels of the brand.

Customer Engagement

The mobile app is the most essential tool to measure customer engagement metrics and is an excellent indicator of the same.

Finally, it can be said that the five value propositions can be tied to the most essential metrics of your business with a mobile app development agency. That can in turn help you decide upon the mobile app budget.

Market Research and SWOT Analysis

Determining a few things before getting started is essential and they are:

• Who is going to be the target audience?
• What’s your competitive edge over other apps in the market?
• The business model you would follow to get a better ROI?
• What technology stack and mobile app development approach would you use?
• What would be your budget?
• How much time do you need to design the app and launch it?
• What would be your marketing strategy?

To know the above answers, your enterprise app development company will conduct extensive market research for your app project. Because detailed market research can help you identify the gaps left by your competitors. And can save you from making many preventable mistakes.

It is also advisable to do a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. This would help you make strategic planning and identify your present and future potential.

Defining Mobile App Objectives and Goals

After the research phase is over, the analysts from your app development company will help you identify, define, and finalize your project goals that are in line with your business objectives. While doing so, you can determine the following:

• How will your app be useful for your customers?
• What would be your app’s offerings?
• Where would your app’s USP lie?

However, you need to remember to prioritize user experience while finalizing your product plan.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming the idea for your mobile app is crucial once you are done with the market research phase and have identified your objectives. As it can help you figure out the best way to design the app within the constraints of budget, time, and competitor opportunities.

Target Audience or User Segmentation

Having a comprehensive idea about your target audience can make a huge difference to your mobile app’s fate. A well-defined mobile app development services will make this a hassle-free process for you. Here are a few key things to take into account while determining your target audience.

Based on Devices

Gaining a clear idea about whether your customers belong to the Android or iOS user groups can help you figure out which development approach you must follow, what tech stacks to use, and a lot more.

Geographical Location

Geolocation or geotagging is a robust process allowing your mobile app development company to design apps that can stand apart from their competitors.

Most organizations focus on geolocation-based mobile application development. As all smartphones have in-built GPS chips, app developers can take its help to do the following:

• Detect the user’s exact location to help with delivering personalized experiences.
• Target relevant customers.
• Attract new customers.
• Prompt location-based content and adverts.
• Facilitate offering on-demand services easily.
• Leverage AR technology to enhance user experience.

User Info

Demographic information helps in imparting a customized user experience. It also aids in earning customer loyalty and fostering long-term relationships with the customers. And your custom mobile app development company will assist you in understanding the user persona & help in improving the user engagement faculty of the mobile application.

User Behaviour

User behavior refers to how users interact with an app or product. It could be how much time the customers spend using various types of apps daily, what they like and don’t like, and many other things. Knowing how to track and analyze user behavior can help you achieve enhanced conversions and ultimately generate leads.

Monetization Model

Your mobile app is either directly or indirectly going to generate money for you. But have you decided on the monetization approach to adopt yet? Before going to the phase of creating your MVP and the designing phase, you need to explore several options of monetization, so that it can help you reap back the cost of developing the app and maintenance. Here, your app development company will help you effectively implement a variety of monetary modals to turn your apps into revenue-generating machines.

Below described are the common monetization techniques for your mobile app.

Ad Revenue

The most common way to monetize your app is through advertising. Even if your app is free to download and use, still displaying ads would help you reap your mobile building cost. So you don’t need to make an exquisite and unique application for advertisements as even a simple application is eligible for ad placements.

Types of ads include display ads, banner ads, video ads, interstitial ads, native ads, text ads, etc.

If you want to take this path of monetizing your app, then your mobile application development agency can consider using the following platforms for ads. Moreover, these platforms will help you get connected to the ad buyers automatically.

• Google AdMob
• Unity
• AdColony

Freemium Features

Using this model of monetization allows you to create a mobile app that can be downloaded for free and even used with limited functionalities. However, customers would need to unlock the full version of the app by paying for it and accessing the premium features completely.

These apps may or may not function without ads. Often, your mobile application development company builds these freemium features around to enhance customer experience.

Example – Canva

Subscription Model

This technique of monetization can be employed by enterprises when they are offering a SaaS (Subscription-as-a-Service) product in the form of a mobile application.

Only about 5% of businesses are employing this monetization model. As this model is deemed fit for cloud-based services and music & OTT platforms. Here, the users get the option to subscribe to the service either on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis to gain access to its content.

Example – Disney+ Hotstar, YouTube Music, etc.

Affiliate Programs

These affiliated programs become a monetization technique in the form of a sponsorship model. In which you partner with a few businesses and agree to place their reference links in your application. As users click on those links, it generates leads for those businesses and you can, in turn, earn a percentage from their profit for yourself.

Whereas in sponsorship, you enter into a deal with one business alone and sponsor their products & services through your app. In return, they pay you for doing so which helps to recover the production and maintenance costs.

In-app Purchases

This model is popular in gaming apps. Here the developers permit the free download of the application to increase its popularity.

However, they restrict the full usage of the app which can be accessed only via in-app purchases. For instance, unlocking extra features, earning game currencies & extra lives, ad blocking, gaining special rewards, and other content.

Examples – Pokemon Go is estimated to have $4 billion from in-app purchases and Clash of Clans earned more than $1 million per day.

Paid Apps

These apps pay per download apps. Usually, the App Store has a huge collection of such paid apps compared to the Play Store.

Hybrid Model

Your enterprise app development company can let you get the best of both worlds with a Hybrid model. This way of revenue generation involves using a mixed approach. Here, many mobile apps are seen combining ads with freemium features or the subscription model.

Example – Spotify plays ads for free users along with restricting offline listening.

II. Technological Phase in Mobile App Development

Once you are done with the first and most prime phase of mobile app development, you can move on to the next phase, which is known as the technological phase. Hereon, your mobile app development company takes over the process with its technological expertise. This phase comprises four distinct parameters, and they are; deciding the app framework, the publishing platform, and determining which tech stacks to employ. Accordingly, the final development approach is to be adopted for the mobile application.

This is still the initial phase of app development where you are ensuring about determining everything accurately. Including the approach that you want to take for designing the mobile app.

Also, this stage is climacteric requiring comprehensive custom mobile application development services to get an absolute product at the end of the process. As per the Theory of Quality Management ‘preventing an error costs less than correcting it, which is further cost-efficient than failure.’ Without further ado, let’s look at the four major sub-phases of this stage.

App Framework

Enterprises often struggle at selecting the right framework for mobile application development due to the myriad of options available in the market. Below, you will find out the most popular mobile app development frameworks used by developers in recent times.

React Native

This framework is created by Facebook and is an open-source framework. It is used for making high-performing apps in less time. Also, an enterprise mobile application development company utilizes JS coding language to make native components and has a modular architecture.

React Native also offers third-party plugin support. Besides this, it can be reused, and its code can be shared across different platforms.

Flutter

Flutter is offered by Google and is known for its lightweight components, high-speed, cross-platform development support, and need for less testing. Moreover, this software development kit makes use of Google’s native programming language called Dart.

It can even be used to develop visual components of mobile apps with the aid of Skia.

Xamarin

Xamarin is Microsoft’s creation that depends on the C# coding language. Here, the native libraries are wrapped in a .Net layer to build interactive apps.

With Xamarin, your mobile app development agency can build apps quickly by reutilizing tools and codes of multiple platforms. It also offers a single code base to design apps for every operating system.

App Development Platform

Choosing the app development platform largely depends upon your business goals and your enterprise mobile app development company can help you in deciding that. Before that, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Like, does your application and business need to reach the masses? And do you aim to earn by ads or through in-app purchases?

If your app needs to reach a wider user base, then you must release the app on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Also, if your prime objective is to generate revenue from adverts, then the Play Store is the best place to launch your app. Meanwhile, if you want to make money from in-app purchases then you must publish the application on the Apple App Store.

Right Approach to Development

Deciding on the approach to an enterprise mobile app development can make a significant impact on your revenues. As this is largely influenced by your goal of making an app. Hence, it is advisable to do some critical thinking at this stage as it can make a large difference later.

Native Apps

If you want your app to have higher performance, better responsiveness, and enhanced security, then native app development is the best approach to take.

Also, if you want to target just one OS platform, then you must take this approach. As you can specifically design apps for Android or iOS. Here, you would be requiring two separate development teams and two codebases.

Hybrid Apps

On the other hand, if you want to build an application that can be released on both the Android and iOS platforms, then you can go for the hybrid app development approach.

This can bring down your cost of development and marketing. And save a lot of time as there won’t be any need to develop two separate applications. Thus, the app will also have a wider reach.

With the volatile market, your custom mobile app development company may suggest you go with the hybrid apps. So that your business app covers the audience of both platforms for wider user reach.

Tech Stacks to be Used

The best mobile app development company will have the right knowledge of all the latest tools and technologies. And uses the best-fitted tech stacks to enhance the functionalities of your app. Moreover, the right technology stack integrates the platform with the correct coding language, framework, and other tools needed for the development process.

For native app development, developers can make use of the following tech stacks:

• For Android: Android Studio & Android Developer Tools are useful Android development tools. Coding languages best suited for the Android platform are Kotlin & Java. While Android UI software and Jetpack Compose are the best UI frameworks.
• For iOS: Coding languages best suited for the iOS platform are Objective C and Swift. When it comes to the development tools, then Xcode and Appcode are the best options. Further, the preferred UI frameworks are UIKit and SwiftUI.

For cross-platform app development, the best tech stacks to be employed are:

• Flutter
• React Native
• Xamarin

The technology stack to be utilized for hybrid app development are:

• Cordova/PhoneGap
• Ionic

If you are an independent and individual app developer or have a very small budget for app development, then you can also take the help of ready-made app building platforms like BuildFire and AppyPie. Though this is not a robust app development method, it can come in handy to make simple applications.

Your mobile app development firm will tour you through all the shortlisted tech stacks with the benefits suitable for your project. So it becomes easy for you to select the one that you feel is best for your app.

III. Team-building Phase

To be able to build a great, well-organized, and efficient team is like half the work done when it comes to succeeding at mobile application development. Recruiting the right people with acumen and the desired skill set is the first step to producing a great product.

However, it becomes a hassle-free process as you associate with a top mobile app development company for your mobile app development outsourcing. As they house the best-certified developers, managers, and testers to select from their talented pool. Hence, you can easily interview and build your efficient team from one place to avail of complete custom mobile application development services.

In this segment of the article, we have unraveled the secret behind building an excellent team structure and accurately distributing the roles & responsibilities.

UX/UI Designers

The main task of the UI/UX designer is to create a commendable user experience by designing an engaging, intuitive, and concise app. Here, the typical skill sets to look for in the UX/UI designer are:

• Coding ability at par with that of the core developers.
• Familiarity with UI/UX design tools such as InVision, Figma, and Sketch.

Web Designers

A web designer has to have both creative and analytical skills. Hence, while hiring them, it is pertinent to evaluate if they are adept at the following:

• Possesses knowledge of graphic design, visual design, web design, and UI design.
• Familiar with UX and UI tools.
• Skilled at using design software like Adobe Photoshop, Sketch, and Illustrator.
• Proficient in coding languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.

Web Developers

In mobile app development, front-end and back-end developers have to be recruited. Besides, the front-end developers also have to be chosen based on the platform of development. Hence, you might need iOS and Android developers separately or cross-platform developers as per your app development approach. If you partner with the best mobile app development company India like eSparkBiz, then you can get adroit front-end, back-end, and full-stack developers who are experts in all the platforms.

Android & iOS developer desired skill set:

• Expert-level proficiency in the respective coding languages of the individual platforms, i.e. Java & Kotlin for Android, and Objective-C and Swift for iOS.
• iOS developers should have experience in using Xcode IDE, which is the primary development environment for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS apps.
• Android developers should have experience in using Android Studio which is the IDE of Android apps.
• Meanwhile, cross-platform developers should have hands-on experience with the React Native framework. And should be familiar with other tech stacks like Xamarin, Flutter, etc.

Back-end developer skill set:

• They should be proficient in handling tools like Git along with having experience in coding languages like Java, Python, .Net, PHP, etc.

Product/Project Manager

Your custom mobile application development company automatically provides you with a smart Project manager for your project. This Project Manager(PM) is the bridge between the client and the development team. It is the PM’s responsibility to run the whole project in a coordinated manner and deliver it at the right time and within the decided budget. Therefore, the PM should be proficient in the following:

• Familiar with project management techniques like Scrum, Agile, and Kanban frameworks.
• Capable of using various project management tools like Confluence, Trello, Asana, etc.
• They should also be using analytic tools like Google Analytics, Firebase, etc.
• Above all, a PM should be having leadership skills. And should be able to monitor the team, manage time and budget, and must be capable of thinking critically, creatively, and laterally.

Business Analysts

A top mobile app development company understands the importance of data and analytics and will exploit it to rank up your app in all aspects. A business analyst is a link between the development team and the data analytics team. They play a key role in improving the app by analyzing its data. In doing so, they make recommendations to the stakeholders based on data analysis. Here’s a quick look at the must-have skill sets of BAs:

• Analytical thinking and problem-solving approach.
• Certified knowledge of data analytics, machine learning, and data mining.
• Should have technical skills and advanced level knowledge of handling software design tools, SQL querying, MS Excel, business process models, Big Data, Microsoft Visio, and Python.

QA Testers

QA testers have a crucial role to play in app development. Because they need to identify flaws in the design and functioning of the product and are entrusted with tasks like manual and automated testing. Therefore, they must be able to do the following:

• They must know how to track bugs and use tools like Jira.
• QA engineers must be competent in using tools like TestComplete, Selenium, and Robotium.

IV. App Designing and Illustrating the Concept Phase

Once you have determined the technological phase and assembled the team with your enterprise mobile app development company, you can move on to the app designing phase. In the app designing phase, it is all about choosing the UI/UX design of the mobile app, designing the wireframe, and making the prototype of the application. The below points cover all the distinct stages of the app designing phase in detail.

UX/UI Design

Technological evolution is constantly pushing for a better user experience. Nowadays, people access almost everything through their smartphones. Everyone carries their entire world inside their beloved smartphones these days.

This has made the user interface design an important aspect for a mobile app development company. It becomes the introduction of the business to the users potentially leading them to a sustained clientele. Hence, strategizing UI/UX has become a tricky job.

The credit for this goes to the creation and existence of all possible mobile apps. By 2022, it is estimated that the number of mobile app downloads will reach 258.2 billion all over the world.

Hence, the UX/UI of the smartphone apps plays a pivotal role in influencing the customers to choose and use a mobile app. Here, the abbreviations UX and UI refer to User Experience and User Interface respectively.

UI represents how smartphone users interact with the app. Including controls, buttons, blocks, and all other tangible elements of the app.

UX is how the user feels while using the mobile app. Is it easy to operate? Is it capable of establishing your business value? Does it meet the user’s expectations? While creating the UX, the UX/UI designer should keep the product design clear, convenient, and user-friendly.

The distinction between UX & UI

An efficient UI/UX designer from your mobile application development agency will keep all these aspects in mind and design you the appealing, immersive UI for high customer engagement.

Best UI/UX design software in the market:

• Adobe XD
• Sketch
• Figma
• Axure RP
• Justinmind

The following tips can be employed to improve the UI/UX of the mobile app

• The design created should be uniform throughout the app.
• Always keep the design of the app simple as complicated navigation and design would make users lose interest in using the app.
• Focus on enhancing the loading speed of the app.
• Use conventional design elements like icons, buttons, colors, and symbols.
• Keep the app as interactive as possible.

Style Guides

Coming to style guides, these can be described as living documents that need to be well maintained by your mobile app development agency. It has everything documented regarding the app’s design standards starting from the company’s branding rules to navigation icon details.

Style guides directly make an impact on the app design strategy. For that, the developers can refer to the app design guidelines from Apple for iOS and Google for Android-based apps.

A style guide should typically focus on the following:

• Details about the color scheme to be used.
• Font for the app text.
• Displaying the company brand in the app design.

If a style guide is established before the actual app development starts, then it increases the productivity of the mobile developers. And helps to maintain a consistent appearance of the mobile app.

Designing the App Wireframe

Based on the style guide the developers from your partnered mobile application development company get on to preparing wireframes for your apps. Wireframing means creating a visual representation and a flowchart of the app’s layout. It’s like a skeletal structure or a bridge between your ideas and the final product that would come out in actuality.

Essential aspects of designing the wireframe:

The wireframe is created based on the use cases. Most importantly, the wireframe allows you to connect all the screens or tabs of the mobile application. And help you figure out whether the navigation pathway looks convenient from the user’s perspective.

A wireframe is not like the final app but shows the basic sketch of what happens when the app buttons are pressed by users and how the navigation works.

Moreover, you can take the help of several wireframing applications that are available online like Adobe, MockPlus, etc. Also, these are easy-to-use applications that can even be used by inexperienced people. Additionally, they provide several ready-made templates to do the work in a simplified manner. While designing the wireframe, it is important to plan the visual elements of your mobile application by incorporating the following:

• Company logo
• Photos and Media
• The Layout of all the Screens
• Buttons and Icons
• Fonts to be used in the App
• Colour Schemes
• Animations
• Primary and Secondary Menus

Once your wireframes are ready, your mobile app development firm will move on to test them. It happens in the following manner:

Testing the Wireframe

The wireframe can be tested by coworkers. It is recommended to test the designed wireframe extensively to eliminate obvious flaws. Here, the goal of testing should be to make the app user-friendly.

Thus, it should be tested on parameters like whether the testers can perform various tasks on the app and can navigate through the screens smoothly. It is crucial to identify the complicated navigation pathways at this stage to come up with a more simplified design later.

To test the wireframes, you can use tools like Prototypr or InVision.

Mockups

The Mockups, also known as high-fidelity designs, are the final step of completing the app’s visual design. Any top mobile app development company will never miss this stage of development. Also, this phase directly leads to making prototypes. Hence, Mockups connect the style guide phase to the wireframing phase.

Meaning that the purpose of creating a mockup is to apply the style guide to the app wireframe. So, Mockups are static designs that are used to display the mobile application’s functionality.

Once the mobile application design approaches the final stage, further modifications to the workflow, information architecture, and aesthetics are an obvious possibility.

Popular tools for making high-fidelity mockups are:

• Adobe Photoshop
• Mockup Builder
• InVision
• MockFlow
• Mockingbird
• Balsamiq Mockups
• JustProto
• HotGloo

Prototypes

Prototypes are click-thru designs to display the functionality and appearance of the mobile app. It simulates the user experience and the app’s workflows that would be seen in the final product. Prototyping is a part of the design thinking process that aids in transforming loose ideas into lucid forms.

Prototype designing makes it possible for the app development company to test the app’s design and functionality at an early stage. And helps to identify the areas of modification in the app’s functionality.

Useful prototype tools: Developers can take the help of prototype designing tools like InVision and Figma.

InVision – InVision makes the screens come alive in a prototype. It can be accessed from anywhere in the world in real-time.

Figma – Figma Mirror lets developers view the live designs of the app from the desktop app across all mobile devices.

Prototyping is of two distinct types:

Low-fidelity Prototypes – This is the basic representation of the normal working of the mobile app. Creating low-fidelity prototypes is inexpensive, easily disposable, requires less effort, & supports design thinking. Most essentially, it is easy to make changes to them instantly.

High-fidelity Prototypes – A enterprise mobile app development company produces High-fidelity prototypes on the other hand. As they are almost the replica of the final product or kind of the pilot version of the mobile application. Here, the advantage of creating high-fidelity prototypes is that they are engaging and help to produce valid user research results.

The following are the advantages of designing the prototype for mobile applications:

• Facilitates exploration of new concepts.
• Helps in detecting the key areas of improvement in the app.
• Makes the app building process cost-efficient.
• Helps to validate the UX.
• Aids the app development company to explore and confirm their client’s business idea with minimal time and energy.

Creating your MVP

Once you have determined the offerings to incorporate into your mobile app, you can design the minimum viable product (MVP). And present it to your trial-phase customers to seek feedback and input from them.

Doing this would help you understand what works and what fails. Also, give the investors a quick peek at your idea, and waste minimum engineering time. Ultimately, it would serve as the base for other app products in the future.

The Minimum Viable Product should have the following attributes:

• Functionality
• Minimal but quality design
• Should be able to create a significant user experience that can be improved in the final product
• Should be able to invoke reliability in the product.

Partnering with a dependable custom mobile application development company will result in a profound MVP to practically validate your idea among your users while saving your time and money.

V. App Development Phase

Once the mobile app development company is done with the planning phase and the app design phase then comes the main phase of app development. An enterprise mobile app development consists of building the back-end/server technology, developing the API, and then the front-end.

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of app development, it is essential to go through a few important points that should be kept in mind while making the app.

• It is recommended to utilize single input fields as much as possible.
• Selecting the right database is a must. Here, the developers must take into account factors like the required size, data structure, scalability, agility, and security.
• Building a landing page is extremely necessary.
• Eliminating features and elements that serve no real purpose to the user is advised.
• It should be kept in mind to not overuse push notifications.
• It is also recommended to make your app future-proof.

Back-end Development

The back-end is the OS of the app through which the business logic is implemented into the app. Hence, back-end or server technology development corresponds to developing the database and server-side objects. Additionally, these support the overall function of the mobile app by connecting it to a network.

It is imperative to note that while using an existing back-end platform, the enterprise app development company may tweak some configurations as per the current app’s needs. Also, it is pertinent to examine the server-side objects with other app components.

API Development

Application Programming Interface (API) serves as the connecting link between the app and the back-end database. Specifically, API consists of a set of instructions, protocols, tools, or standards that enables an app to communicate to other apps, products, services, and the database. Also, the programming interface of the API is used for developing GUI components. An efficient API building and its implementation is part of your mobile application development services.

So whenever a customer launches an application to perform some action like booking a hotel ticket, then they enter the details of their travel on the app. Thereon, the app immediately fetches the relevant details on the app for the user. Further, the user can proceed to book their reservations via the application. Thus, this entire action is facilitated via an API.

Developers enable the app to access the data from databases via APIs. Further, APIs connect the app to third-party services. It also helps to send the data to the app.

Features requisites of an API:

• It should facilitate search by criteria feature such as searches based on timestamps.
• The API should be capable of determining how much data to display at one shot and in what frequency.  Also, it should be able to calculate the pages left to show the user.
• The API should be able to sort the data well.
• It should be capable of supporting JSON & Rest APIs.
• The API must provide authorization via OAuth.

Develop an API like a pro with these tools:

Apigee – Apigee is Google’s API management tool that assists developers in building the APIs.

API Science – This tool comes in handy in evaluating the internal and external APIs.

GitHub – The open-source Git repository hosting service assists developers in doing plenty of tasks. Such as managing code files, taking care of version controls, and pulling requests.

API Platform – it is an open-source PHP framework best suited for web API programming.

API Serverless Architecture – This is precise for mobile app development outsourcing as it helps to design, build, publish, and host APIs within a cloud-based server infrastructure.

Front-end Development

Well, the next milestone is programming the client-side of the mobile app. It is referred to as front-end development. In this phase of mobile app building, everything is about creating an awesome user experience that is linked to the back-end via the API. Here, the enterprise mobile application development company needs to implement the decided structure, design, animation, and behavior in the app.

The programming language and the technology stack to be used for the front-end largely varies with the mobile app development approach taken by the team of developers.

It is worth mentioning here that the custom mobile app development company can take up an agile development approach if they are on a tight schedule. By adopting this approach, developers can release apps frequently. Also, this approach is highly suitable for apps deployed in iteration.

Other Aspects of Development

A few other developmental aspects have been mentioned below for your understanding:

Third-party Integration – Integrating third-party apps, libraries, frameworks, and services further adds to the challenge for the developer. So they might need to take help with integrating services like Braintree.

To incorporate social media sharing features, the developer might need to take the help of the respective social media app APIs. And to include real-time chats, they may rely on services like Layer.

Admin Panel Development – Special admin panel designers have to be employed to build a flexible admin panel. It will make the app easy to use.

Incorporating In-app Purchases – Embedding and implementing in-app purchases into the app also increases the complexity of development.

Including Hardware Components – Inclusion of hardware components such as accelerometers, heart rate, motion sensors, barometers, GPS, and Bluetooth call for a special approach to development by the mobile application development agency.

Developing Customization Capabilities – Offering tailor-made app design and animation effects increase the complexity of development and app implementation.

VI. Testing Phase

Testing is the next big stage in mobile app development. Here, the whole and sole purpose of the app development company is to detect the most obvious flaws in the design. Along with identifying crash points, dead ends, dead links, and error messages.

It is advisable to keep testing the app in routine intervals using smartphone simulators. Once the app development is over, it is imperative to test the app on a smartphone thoroughly. Testing can be initially done by the development & testing team, followed by using a small number of other regular people to find out hidden bugs.

The following kinds of mobile app testing are performed unmistakably by any top mobile app development company:

Documentation Testing

This is the first and foremost mobile testing phase which is more like a documentation testing cum preparatory stage. The focal point of this testing phase is to find out the discrepancies and inconsistencies to resolve the points of conflict during development. And allow the running of the development stage smoothly.

In the documentation phase, the enterprise mobile application development company needs to analyze the test cases, test plan, and traceability matrix.

Functional Testing

It is of utmost importance to test the overall functionality of the app created by you. As this can significantly influence the success or failure of the app once it is launched in the market.

To understand whether the app is appearing and functioning in the same manner for all app users, the test of functionality must be mandatorily carried out by as many people as possible.

Testing teams of your custom mobile app development company must be evaluating the application under varied testing conditions that are possible to establish. If the native mobile app development approach was taken, then the application must be tested for iOS and Android mobile platforms separately and must incorporate a feature-wise comparison.

Further, the functional testing can be split into system testing which to indicate how the app is working wholly. And unit testing is to identify how the individual features of the app are performing.

Performance Testing

The next way to test the freshly programmed mobile app is by checking its performance. Simply testing the app is not enough. It is also essential to examine the API and the back-end. This helps the mobile app development firm to evaluate how many users the app can simultaneously handle and how much is the app scalable.

• The responsiveness of the app when multiple users are using it simultaneously
• The screen loading speed of the application
• The battery consumption of the app
• The impact of the app on the RAM
• App size
• How well is the app utilizing the network bandwidth

UX/UI Testing

This is quite a censorious step in testing. As UX/UI testing helps validate whether the final product matches the UX/UI design guidelines and meets the expectations of the user.

In this step, the custom mobile app development company tries to find out whether the visual, workflow, and other points of interaction and navigation are working effectively in the final app. And whether the users will be happy using your product.

The testing team has to typically focus on whether the app font, color schematics, style treatments, icon & button designs, and the navigation pathways are user-friendly and consistent throughout the app.

Security Testing

Security is the key testing area because it largely influences the app’s impression impacting its usage and revenue generation. While the existence of potential vulnerabilities can consequently lead to hacking and data privacy compromises.

It is often recommended by a mobile app development company to get your app tested by external security testing teams extensively apart from involving internal QA teams. Earning certification from a good testing agency can enhance the credibility of the app in the market and gain people’s trust.

The following parameters should be taken into consideration when running a security evaluation process of a mobile app:

• Log-in sessions should be monitored at the back-end and on the smart device.
• A typical evaluation should be carried out to see if the app is auto-terminating user sessions when the app is remaining idle for a prolonged period.
• It should be tested if the data entry forms inside the mobile app are entirely leak-proof.
• If the app is storing data related to user credentials, then test whether it is using a trusted service for the same.

Configuration Testing

The mobile application development company needs to confirm the compatibility of their developed app on various devices ensuring seamless UX.

Compatibility testing or Configuration testing is all about verifying whether the app’s performance is robust and effective on different devices. The compatibility testing has the following evaluative parameters:

• OS Configuration
• Browser Configuration
• Database Configuration
• Device Configuration
• Network Configuration

Further, Compatibility testing is of the following types:

• Cross-platform Testing
• Cross-browser Testing
• Database Testing
• Device Configuration Testing
• Network Configuration Testing

Platform Testing

The major challenge for the enterprise app development company for creating superior performance mobile apps lies in the variety of platforms and devices on which they are used. Every year the smartphone market is expanding at an exponential rate launching newer designs, firmware, hardware, functionalities, etc.

Newer smartphones are bringing with them new operating systems of Android and iOS. With the introduction of the new OS, even the OS of the older models is updated frequently.

Hence, the mobile app development company has to pay special attention to the design and performance customizations as per the platform and device for which they are releasing the app.

This is why for testing also the developers and the testing team have to employ device and platform-specific simulators. This helps them to check the compatibility and the performance of the app appropriately.

Recovery Testing

In recovery testing, the mobile app development agency evaluated the application to verify how well it is recovering after a factory reset. Or after encountering a complete crash due to software and hardware failures.

Beta Testing

The app development company conducts the Beta testing is required when all other testing phases are complete. Here, the app goes through a final round of evaluation before deployment by the real users. It is done on actual smartphones to personally validate the performance, compatibility, and reliability of the app.

Certification Testing

This testing involves checking whether the app meets the licensing agreements and the terms of use of the App Store, Play Store, and Windows.

VII. App Deployment and Launching Phase

The next and final destination is the deployment and mobile app launch phase. Releasing the app into the app stores requires the submission of the app to the respective platforms by the app development company.

Usually, developers are needed to have a developer account on Play Store and App Store. It is to be noted that iOS apps go through a process of review to check whether it follows the Apple iOS development guidelines. So this may take a few days to a few weeks. On the other hand, the Android apps can be directly published on the Google Play Store as there is no review process on Play Store.

Launch Date and App Deployment

Launch Date: The launch date of the app varies according to the time needed for mobile app development. In the case of smaller and simpler apps, the required development time may be one-two week. While a medium-sized app may take two-three weeks of development time.

But the development of a large and complex enterprise mobile app development may take up somewhere between a month to two months.

Releasing the Mobile App: Once you are all set with the go-live date, the app publication will consist of the following sub-stages:

• Listing page creation on the app stores
• App Title
• App Description
• Deciding the category of listing
• Icon creation
• Keywords optimization
• Adding app images and screenshots

Take User Feedback

Once the app becomes live on the respective app stores, then the customers and end-users should be prompted to post their valuable feedback and suggestions in the review section of the app.

These reviews must be thoroughly read by the businesses and their mobile app development agency. Further, they must engage their customers by responding to their reviews and considering their suggestions.

VIII. Post-deployment Phase

Once the mobile app development phase is over and the application has been successfully deployed over the desired platform, then comes the post-deployment phase.

The post-deployment phase is quite a crucial phase for the mobile application development company. Because this is when the app goes out to the masses for the first time. During this phase, the app needs to be closely monitored for performance issues, technical glitches, and bugs that might not have surfaced during the testing phase. Doing this would only keep your app in good shape, attract more customers, and ultimately generate better revenue.

If the application fails at this juncture, then it can be quite devastating for the business. Also, this phase invites the scope of further development and enhancements as per the user’s feedback. So, you need to design a post-deployment plan as part of your availed mobile app development services around certain parameters that are discussed below.

Provide Regular Updates

Do you know why updates are indispensable? Because updates help to maintain optimum performance of the app and also patch up security issues. Also, they help to introduce new features and keep the app up-to-date with the latest technological upgrades as included in mobile application development services.

Here are eight reasons why mobile apps must be regularly updated:

• To Manage Crashes & Fix Bugs – The best way to manage the crashes is with the help of regular updates. Besides, crash reports can be generated by tracking app crashes with the help of libraries like Sentry and HockeyApp. Additionally, these libraries help to gather information about which activity led to the crash to guide the developers further.

Bugs can sometimes appear out of the blue to mar the customer experience. Hence, updating the app is the only way out of the unexpected bug scenarios appearing in mobile applications.

• To Optimise the Performance – To keep your mobile application’s performance robust, the enterprise mobile app development company must update the apps at regular intervals. It helps to eliminate lags and keep various other performance issues at bay.

• To Stay at Par with the Latest Technology – Innovation in the area of hardware and software of smartphones is a constant thing. That is why your application must be updated to remain functional even in the most latest version of Android or iOS. For example, the arrival of 5G would require the application performance to be at par with the 5G technology.

Updates also help the app synchronize with other frequently updated apps if your mobile application is tied to other apps. For instance, if you have a service-based app and to make payments, GPay or ApplePay is used, then your app needs to be updated every time GPay or ApplePay app undergoes an upgrade.

So your mobile app development agency must consistently keep your apps up to the mark in terms of technology and evolving trends.

• To Enhance the UX/UI – Updates are also a key to renewing the UX/UI of the apps.
• To Patch up Security Issues – It is quite evident that a certain security measure can’t exist infinitely with the changing technologies. And the world is changing at a faster pace in terms of security breach techniques. Thus, it is always wise to stay ahead of the hackers.

Hence, pushing security updates at regular intervals by your mobile app development company helps to cover loopholes in the existing security measures. So you can prevent yourself from falling into compromised situations.

• To Manage App Life-cycle – Apps need to be updated to keep a constant level of performance throughout their life-cycle.
• For Rebranding Purposes – When enterprises need to rebrand, then it can be done only by updating their app.
• For Introducing Minor & Major Updates – Apps need to be updated for improving the offered content, introducing standalone features, and expanding the monetization strategies.

Track Analytics

Modern app analytics offered by the best mobile app development company can help you gain a lot of insight into your application, keep track of usage, and plan future efforts. Also, businesses and enterprises can identify follies based on these analytic reports. Besides, the Data here is the key to opening doors of newer possibilities for the businesses.

Famous analytics apps include Facebook Analytics, Google Analytics, Crashlytics, and Firebase.

These apps can detect crashes, understand your customer better in terms of demographics, geolocation, and user behavior patterns, generate heat maps of your app, and do a lot more.

Marketing your Application

Mobile application development services must involve extensive marketing that is required to boost app usage and popularity during the post-deployment phase. Pitching in with app-based blogs, connecting with technical writers, or starting a blog of your own can introduce your app to online users. Also, taking the help of social media, releasing and advertising video teasers of your apps, asking for user reviews, and trying to get good user ratings on the App Store & Play Store are some of the common approaches of post-deployment app marketing these days.

Provide 24/7 App Support

A mobile application development agency offering technical assistance round the clock is the best way to serve your customers right. By troubleshooting your clients’ issues and solving their queries, you can create a better impression of your brand in the market.

It can help you to retain customers and earn customer loyalty. Building a customer support feature into the application is the best way to help your customers find a way to connect back to you in times of problems and doubts.

Current Mobile App Development Trends

App Integration with the Internet of Things (IoT)

We are not dealing with a fresh concept when it comes to the IoT. significantly, the Internet of Things has created endless opportunities as mobile penetration increases across a broad spectrum of sectors. It has become commonplace for people to use technology to upgrade their routine lives.

With the help of IoT, users can get high convenience and control over an increasing network of devices that are linked to the Internet. One can now see high growth in the usage and integration of IoT and mobile apps in the area of smart home technology, all thanks to mobile app development firms.

Moreover, the global IoT market is anticipated to touch $264 billion by the end of 2022. Out of the stated amount, $190 billion will be the result of the software industry, such as mobile apps. According to Statista, the proceeds resulting from technology that is integrated with the IoT will touch 1.6 trillion by the year 2025. Thus, making up a huge market to flourish for an enterprise app development company.

5G Technology

Several aspects of 2022 app trends will be influenced by the deployment of 5G technology. And all the stakeholders including the mobile app development company, application developers, & users will be able to take advantage of this technology to create and sell mobile applications in a whole new way. Significantly, this will improve the efficiency and speed of mobile apps.

Truth is, 5G is anticipated to deliver a 10x decrease in latency. And this will happen simultaneously giving traffic capacity and network efficiency a major boost. As compared to the 4G technology, 5G will approximately be 100 times faster, of course, depending on mobile network operators.

Moreover, the penetration of the 5G technology will change the efficacy of mobile apps. Enhancing the overall mobile application development services will enable the developers to augment new features and capabilities into the apps and for the users to enjoy them easily without negatively impacting the app’s performance.

Beacon Technology

In 2013, a mobile app beacon was developed for the first time. However, this technology has undergone significant advancements over the last several years.

For better understanding, let us look at an example of how a mobile app beacon works. So, imagine that you are an app developer working for a custom mobile app development company. If the client’s app is installed on the device, the beacon connects wirelessly with the user’s smartphone via Bluetooth. An individual passing by the beacon installed can instantly be notified of an ongoing sale or special displays in that store. Thus, Proximity marketing is the biggest advantage of beacons. As a result, mobile apps that use beacons are ultimately more engaging for customers.

A report from Statista says the beacon technology market is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59.8%. And the market value of beacon tech is likely to touch $56.6 billion by 2026. Notably, the amount stated is more than 10 times higher than the $519.6 million value from 2016.

Artificial Intelligence(AI)

Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence have long been part of mobile app development. However, the potential uses for these advanced technologies are still just beginning to be explored. Examples of a few features of AI that an enterprise mobile app development company USA can widely use in a mobile app are Face detection, Image recognition, Sentiment recognition and classification, Speech recognition, Text and image classification, and Predictive maintenance.

Plus, the apps with artificial intelligence can become smarter, improving their functioning at every stage. Hence, AI will remarkably transform the development process and the user experience for apps by 2022, from back-end development to front-end user experience.

Mobile Payments and Mobile Wallets

Mobile wallets like Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay are getting more popular day by day. While the mobile wallet market will almost double in the next two years.

According to data, $6.1 billion worth of transactions were processed only from mobile wallets in the year 2019. And this figure is now expected to touch $13.98 billion by 2022.

Mobile payments are slowly but gradually being adopted by a large number of app users. Further, they are even integrating apps with wearable devices for payments with mobile app development services.

Some of the best mobile app development company is now considering mobile wallets in app development. For a payment app to function effectively, wallet integration should be a basic and common feature. Nevertheless, the penetration rate of mobile wallets in apps is expected to increase significantly in the next few years.

How to Choose an Offshore Mobile App Development Company?

The process of mobile app development outsourcing involves partnering with a third-party company from another region or country to handle some or all of your app development work.

For instance, your company is currently based in the USA. And you require mobile app development services for a certain e-commerce project. It is now your choice whether to outsource it to a local company, which might prove to be quite costly. Or to an offshore mobile app development company, perhaps located in India, which will help you save on development costs while gaining access to a massive pool of experts. By choosing among the offshore companies, you would probably end up working with the top mobile app development company.

Also Read – Benefits of Offshore Software Development Company

Here is how you can choose an App Development Company for your mobile app development outsourcing:

• Establish well-defined business objectives: The first step is to identify the problems within your company’s ecosystem. By doing this, you can develop an idea of how you can solve those problems. Your app development project should have primary and secondary goals. And the milestones should be divided into phases and their deadlines also should be established.
• Set a clear budget for the app development process: An offshore mobile app development project must take the budget into account. A planned budget can help you identify areas for cost reduction. So set a clear budget to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Moreover, this would help you a lot if you are looking for investors.
• Evaluate their experience and expertise level: Make sure that your enterprise app development company also offers marketing and branding services. It becomes essential to confirm if they offer mobile software development services as one of their core services. Here, consider having a look at their previous works, overall work portfolio, or even take a demo.
• Have a knowledge sharing session: Any engagement should begin with a knowledge sharing session. At which the development team discusses the business objectives, purpose, and requirements. Further, engage in a detailed discussion to ensure that your idea is communicated and understood.
• Ensure the final product is scalable: Both businesses and mobile applications inevitably evolve with time. It is not a good idea to construct applications or digital solutions that can’t be scaled. Looking for an offshore partner i.e. the top mobile app development company that can recommend custom mobile app development to satisfy your current needs while allowing for future expansion is recommended.

Round up on Enterprise Mobile App Development Life-cycle

So, this was all about mobile application development explained elaborately undertaken by a good mobile app development firm. In a nutshell, mobile app development starts from the planning in the strategic phase. Gradually progressing to the technological phase and team-building phase. Further, mobile app development advances to the app designing phase. Then comes the app development process followed by the testing, the deployment, and the post-deployment phase.